Babylonian and Assyrian recordings archive

Courtesy of Cambridge, there are some Babylonian and Assyrian recordings available online, along with transcripts and translations.

It makes me wonder how English (or any other natural language) might be reconstructed in the distant future, assuming transmission, the survival of the human race and an infinite number of other variables. I have little hope for English, because so much of its pronunciation is counter-intuitive and involves a process of trial, error and the presence of someone who knows how 'paradigm' or 'amenable' should be pronounced. To say nothing of shifts in pronunciation across time and space, and free variation - which is the nice way of saying 'tomayto, tomarto'. Or, why I pronounce 'dew', 'due' and 'jew' as homophones, but my friend from the US happily makes a distinction. Similarly, I say territry and he says terri-TOR-ree.. but that wouldn't make an jazz standard.

I'm currently reading Seven Days in New Crete - I found it in a second-hand bookshop, and was curious how a classicist (Robert Graves) might approach speculative fiction. It describes a moneyless 'utopia' - New Crete - through the eyes of a man brought forward through time for consultation. The first chapter begins:

'I am an authority on English,' the man in the white suit said in a curiously colourless accent and with a good deal of hesitation, like an authority on Sanscrit trying to talk conversational Sanscrit. 'I hope that you will pardon us for having brought you so far i.e., so many generations ahead of your epoch. You are Mr. Edward Venn-Thomas, are you not?'
I nodded, still a little confused by the sudden change of scene, but wide awake.
'Do I speak with correctitude?' he asked anxiously.
'With great correctitude,' I assured him, trying not to smile, 'but without the modulations of tone that we English use to express, or disguise, our feelings.'
'It is convenient to disregard such trivia; I understand that the scholars of your day similarly disregarded the modulations of ancient Greek. But I must not trouble you with fine points like these.'
'No trouble at all. The finer the point, the happier it makes me. I'm even ready to discuss ancient Greek modulations.'
'You are very kind, but I am not an expert on Greek, I regret. However, Sir, there is one question that my colleague Quant and I have been debating during the last few days - we are entrusted, you must know, with the revision of the English Dictionary. On the evidence of the Liverpool find of Christmas cards, in which occurred such couplets as:

Just to hope the day keeps fine
For you and yours this Christmas time,

and:

I hope this stocking's in your line
When stars shine bright at Christmas-time.

I hold that "Christmas-time" was often pronounced "Christmas-tine", and that this is a dialect variant of the older "Christmas-tide". Quant denies this, with a warmth that is unusual in him."
'Quant is right.'
'Oh, that is disappointing to me. I thought I had made a discovery of value.'

Subtle critique of scholarship there Graves.

Speaking of Sanskrit, I've been given permission to audit the beginners' class this year. Term starts on Monday - wish me luck.